Denver Nuggets Surpass Sluggish Start, Defeat Pesky Milwaukee Bucks 110-100
By Andrew Dill
Feb 5, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets shooting guard Wilson Chandler (21) guards Milwaukee Bucks point guard Brandon Knight (11) in the second quarter at the Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
The Denver Nuggets (24-23) came into the game thinking they could just coast tonight and defeat the Milwaukee Bucks. Denver trailed at the half 52-51 and were ridiculed for their lack of effort by head coach Brian Shaw, here is what he had to say at the half via the Denver Nuggets twitter account.
#Nuggets coach Brian Shaw delivers tongue-lashing during timeout: "I can't tell which team has the worse record - us or them."
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) February 6, 2014
The Nuggets would respond in the second half as they outscored the Bucks 33-20 in the third quarter as it translated to the fourth defeating the Bucks by the final of 110-100. Ty Lawson led the way for the Nuggets as he recorded a double-double with 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting, knocking down five of his six free-throws to go along with 13 assists and 7 rebounds. Small forward Wilson Chandler scored a team-high 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting as he was aggressive all night.
The whole starting-five of the Denver Nuggets would score in double-figures as shooting guard Randy Foye finished with 20 points knocking down 5-of-10 from distance. J.J. Hickson would record a double-double of his own scoring 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. The ‘Manimal’ Kenneth Faried would nearly record a double-double of his own but just fell one rebound shy as the forward collected 10 points and 9 rebounds.
The Nuggets didn’t have an answer for the Bucks post presence in Larry Sanders. Sanders played strong as he posted a double-double with 25 points on 12-of-19 shooting to go along with 15 rebounds; 8 of which were offensive. Khris Middleton would play a strong game as well as the power forward would also score 25 points on 10-of-21 shooting, finishing with 6 rebounds and 2 steals.
An encouraging sign for the Nuggets moving forward is that their free-throw percentage was stellar tonight as they knocked down 22-of-26 from the stripe. Most notably, J.J. Hickson who is just averaging 55.1% percent from the line shot 5-of-6 tonight from the charity stripe. The Nuggets would also record a season-high in blocks with 12 as Randy Foye would record four of them.
The Denver Nuggets will hit the road as they take on former Nugget Carmelo Anthony and the New York Knicks Friday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM ET, 5:30 PM MT.